


On-Air

by constellations (allyoop)



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Radio, Eventual Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Radio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:51:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyoop/pseuds/constellations
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They call him Leo the Love Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. lies you learn to say on-air

_“Hi there, you’re on the air with Doctor Leo. What can I help you with tonight, darlin’?”_

_“Hey, my name’s Jim and uh-”_

_“Oh? A guy caller? You’re one in a million Jim. What’s ailing’ you and how can the good doctor help?”_

_“I’m twenty-three and I don’t know what love is.”_

_“Well, you’re calling the right place. The way I see it, love is a word. Just a word for a whole barrel of emotions that we have trouble summarizin’ in a way that accurately represents all that we’re feeling. Love is smilin’ when the person enters the room but not knowing why. Love is that twang in your chest when you think about the color of their eyes or the way they look when talkin’ about their favorite things. Love is not being able to breathe steady when they look at you, and knowing they can’t breathe either.”_

_“That’s poetry, Doc. But I haven’t- I’ve never felt that. I don’t think I can.”_

_“Oh Jim, you’ll surprise yourself. You can’t sit idle and wait for love. Go live, go dance, go drink beers with your shirt off while you still can. Love will come.”  
“Will it?”_

_“Trust me, Jim. It’ll come.”_

 

*

 

Jim didn’t know why he called. He had just stumbled away from a bed of twins in naught but silk lace but he still felt that tin can feeling in his chest. The air tasted metallic and his ribs rattled and he was pretty sure he was going to throw up.

And he did, collapsing on a nearby park bench, feeling emptier than ever. He loved alcohol, the way it fuzzed his brain up and forced him to slow down. It was his safety, his plan B, his perfect excuse every time. Too self-conscious to dance? Add some alcohol and the bad music won’t matter. Bored of reruns on a TV with three channels? A good drink is a good friend. Don’t remember last night? Alcohol’s fault. Jim never stayed for the morning even when it took all his strength to move, slowly, painfully, back to his own apartment or as close as he could get. He was a wild child with a reputation that doubled as an address book and he could have never been lonelier.

Jim felt his eyes drooping as he sat on the bench, the cold air doing nothing to help him sober up. He just let it happen; he had nowhere to be that day. He stretched out on the bench, hoping to catch a little sleep, but a newspaper caught his eye. It was blown open to the classifieds page, a large color photo of a smiling man looking up at him. It was so cheesy; the “love doctor” they called him. His stethoscope was even in the shape of a heart. It was so obviously staged and the smile didn’t even reach the man’s eyes. Jim drunkenly wondered if the ‘doctor’ even believed in love himself. Jim struggled to pick up the paper without falling sideways. There was a number below the caption ‘All your answers are just a phone call away!!!” Jim dialed it before he gave it another thought. It’s not like he could screw up his life anymore. Maybe the doc would actually know what he needed.

 

*

 

Leo _was_ a doctor, despite what the snickering readers of the classifieds would think. He had graduated med school with full intentions of becoming a surgeon. He sure had the hands for it. _“Steadiest hands in the South”_ they had said. Too bad the rest of him was too shaky to hold onto anything, lest of all a relationship. It was irony, Leo was fully aware of that. Some cruel twist of fate had let him screw up his marriage to the point of no repair, and then gave him a new job in a new city giving advice on relationships.

At least his radio show was popular. Something to do with how “soothing” his voice was and how “attractive” his Southern accent made him sound. Leo didn’t really agree, but the job paid surprisingly well and he was able to do his work in sweatpants and well-worn shirts without anyone telling him to change. He wasn’t going to let a good thing go, even if every piece of love advice he shared brought back the memory of Joce’s face when she gave him the divorce papers.

He had a male caller that day. He was grateful to hear a voice closer to his own, and not the high-pitched squeals of another teen girl asking whether a guy liked her if he accidentally brushed past her in the hall ( _“Sometimes an accident is just an accident, darlin’. If you really want an answer, just ask him yourself. If it’s a no, well then you’re all the braver for having tried.”_ ). This ‘Jim’ sounded drunk; it was nothing in his words, but rather the somewhat shocked tone as he admitted on radio things most people keep close inside. The badly covered pain when he said _“I don’t think I can”_ left Leo feeling off-kilter for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until he was safe in his home, hot water running over his body, that he realized why that simple confession had affected him so deeply. Leo knew _exactly_ how Jim felt. The sheer magnitude of how much Leo empathized left him standing in the shower until the water ran cold.

_I don’t think I can_.

 

He couldn’t love. Leo thought he could and he had tried. But he couldn’t and the results had left him broken with a pile of boxes on a doorstep. All he knew of love was clichés and the lies he learned to say on air.

Who was he to tell others how to love?

He was a fraud. And he so desperately wanted to quit, to start again from the bottom, to feel dirt on his hands and sweat on his brow as he struggled back up like he deserved. But he didn’t. He lay in bed, looking at his ceiling in the dim light, knowing the next day would be exactly like all the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Comments and kudos are appreciated!


	2. risks you take on-air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They call him Jim the Wild Child.

_“Hello, darlin’. You’re on air with the Love Doctor, Leo. How can I help you this mornin’?”_

_“Uh Leo? It’s Jim.”_

_“Jim? Nice to hear from you again. Have another problem so soon?”_

_“Yeah, actually I uh-“ Leo heard the sound of a liquid being splashed. He sure as hell hoped it was coffee. “I wanted to call again, now that its bright outside and I got some caffeine in me.”_

_“New day, new questions?”_

_“I was drunk last night, but it doesn’t mean I was wrong to ask. But I think I need to be more specific. You have a really great voice, by the way. I hope you know.”_

_“Thanks, Jim. I actually get that a lot. Somethin’ about my Southern charm works wonders over the radio.”_

_“I dunno, Leo. I’m sure you’d be even better in person. That advertisement sure made you look dashing. But that’s not why I’m here. Let’s say I want to, uh, how do I say this…”_

_“C’mon, sugar. Don’t leave Leo and his listeners hangin’.”_

_“How do I find love? Everybody seems so distant nowadays. Huddled over technology, sending messages rather than setting up dates. Everything seems so long distance but I want something a little closer, a little more real.”_

_“So online is out? You’d rather go old school to meet someone?”_

_“Yeah, if it’s even still possible. Do people even meet normally anymore?”_

_“Of course they do, Jim. Sometimes it seems a little harder, but really, it requires a bit more bravery. Are you a risk-taker, Jim?”_

_“I have a pretty good reputation for risks.”_

_“Well then I prescribe a little old-fashioned interaction for your problem. See a cute girl at the bookstore? Compliment her book choice, chat with her a little. Or at the grocery store, the laundromat, your favourite coffee shop. You’d be surprised the people you meet at the places you always go. And if it doesn’t work out? Well maybe you’ll find your best friend instead.”_

_“Thanks.” There was a long pause. Leo knew he should fill it, but he hesitated, just listening to Jim breathe. “Really, Leo. Thanks.”_

_“You ask the Love Doctor, and the Love Doctor will answer. We have another caller on the line. How are you today, darlin’?”_

_*_

Jim was picking up his usual groceries and he had never felt so self-conscious. He picked up a can of pineapple and heard Leo’s words in the back of his head _Are you a risk-taker, Jim?_ He put the can back and sighed, trying to focus on his list. It didn’t help at all; the last item on his list, written in all caps in his own hand, was ‘GET A NUMBER FROM A CUTIE’. Jim had no problem hitting on people, most of the time. But that was when it was smoky dark, music pounding, and several drinks were in both their systems. Numbers and names flowed easily when there was no pressure to make it anything but a one-night stand. But in grocery stores? Asking for someone’s number felt like a bold declaration of interest, one that meant a real date and conversation and a thousand and one expectations Jim was pretty sure he could never meet. He wasn’t really the dating type; he always thought he was better as a flash in the pan than anything worth a wait.

But Jim was feeling pretty desperate to relieve that choking tightness in his chest and the loneliness that bit him when he woke to yet another empty day. Desperate enough to follow the advice of a radio love doctor. He wandered through the aisles feeling aimless; he had already filled his basket with everything he needed but one item remained on his list. On his third pass through the rows of ingredients he stopped; Jim recognized the voice he overheard.

“Look, I know you’re tryin’ to be helpful, but are you out of your damn mind? I ask you where the baking soda is and you took me to the baking powder. There is a _vital_ difference here, man. I am making the McCoy family recipe poundcake and I can hear my grandma spinnin’ in her grave if I dared to mix up the soda with the powder!”

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize-“

“Yeah, well _clearly_.”

Jim really shouldn’t have been surprised. Gone was the plastered fake smile and plastic heart stethoscope; Leo the Love Doctor in real life looked as if he’d just rolled out of bed, hair mussed and shirt threadbare, and a few (dozen) coffee cups short of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Jim almost laughed at how surly he seemed; the frown and eyebrow crinkles clearly the natural state of his face. But despite his achievements as Grumpiest Person Ever, Jim had to admit the man was _attractive_. Dark eyes and dark hair, and an ass that made Jim hope to see it one day in tight jeans and not loose sweats. He looked down at the paper in his hand and grinned. He had a plan. Jim made a beeline for Leo the Love Doctor, grabbing one thing from the shelf as he passed.

“Couldn’t help but overhear…”

Leo glared at him but it melted a little when he saw Jim’s outstretched hand. “Baking soda? How’d you know?”

“You have a _very_ distinct voice. It carries in a small store like this.”

He had the good grace to blush a little but the frown was still there. “Do I know you?”

Jim faked gasped, hand on his chest. “Well, I do say! What kind of doctor doesn’t recognize his patient?”

The flushed deepened on Leo’s face. “You’re _kidding_ me. Of all the days to run into a…” He looked him up and down. “…Jim? Are you Jim with the I-can’t-love problem?”

“Jim Kirk.” He stuck out his hand, ignoring his own pink ears. “And I think I’m doing pretty okay in the love category today.”

“Leonard McCoy. I have a feeling you’re going to tell me even if I don’t ask.” He grimaced. Jim just beamed in return.

“Well I decided to take your advice, go to familiar and casual places, chat with the hotties and try to get a number.”

“I didn’t exactly say-“

“So can I have your number?” Jim could have probably been smoother, maybe said it a little less rushed and pathetic sounding, but either way he didn’t deserve Leo’s almost comical spluttery reaction.

“I- what? You can’t just- why would you? _Why_?”

“Because I want to. Because it’s not just your voice that’s attractive. Because you seem like you have a story and I want to hear it.” Jim shrugged and tried to keep his voice nonchalant. “Because I think we’re both a little lonely in this big city and it might be nice to have dinner with somebody but yourself.”

Leo couldn’t argue. It was too true to even attempt to refute. “Okay, kid.” Jim raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ll have dinner with you.”

“Well, actually I only asked for your number but I definitely am down for some wining and dining.”

Jim’s wide smile made Leo’s brain stutter and he didn’t know whether to punch him or kiss him. He had a sinking feeling this was how the whole night would go. He sighed, scrawled his number of a scrap piece of paper, and passed it to Jim.

“Call me after seven when my show lets out. I’ll tell you where to meet me for dinner.”

“What if I wanted to pick where we ate?”

He gave him a level glare. “Call me.” Leo was determined to maintain some level of control over this date. It had been a while, _too_ long, since he’d been properly out with someone. And it had never been anyone like this raw mix of sunshine and sex appeal that was Jim Kirk.

He paid for his groceries, fumbling with his wallet distractedly.

_What had he gotten himself into this time?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next part will hopefully happen soon!
> 
> Thanks for reading. Comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
